Professional & Leadership Division

Meet our Men's Division Research Scholars

Matthew K. Abramowitz, M.D., M.S.

Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine (Nephrology)

Dr. Abramowitz and his mentors, Drs. Michal Melamed and Tom Hostetter, are looking for clues to chronic kidney disease, which annually causes more than 100,000 Americans annually to begin dialysis or to need kidney transplants. The team is investigating the potential for alkali drug treatment in early kidney disease to prevent the disease from progressing to the point where dialysis is needed.

Irene Blanco, M.D., M.S.

Arthritis Specialist, Department of Medicine

Dr. Blanco studies systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) a chronic autoimmune disorder that affects the skin, joints, kidneys, and other organs. She is investigating the use of potential biomarkers for kidney damage caused by SLE, with the goal of reducing deaths.

Gabriele de Vos, M.D., M.S.

Dr. de Vos focuses on allergic diseases and asthma and the use of vaccination to induce immunity. She has initiated a clinical trial on the efficacy of allergen immunotherapy to prevent long-term asthma in allergic young children.

Sean Lucan, M.D., M.P.H., M.S.

Assistant Professor, Department of Family and Social Medicine

The number of overweight and obese adolescents has more than tripled in the past 20 years; nearly 80% of young Americans do not eat the daily recommended servings of fruits and vegetables. Dr. Lucan’s research focuses on developing more complete descriptions of local food environments, modeling and mapping dietary disparities and translating nutritional knowledge into improved community health.

Mentor: Hal Strelnick, MD, professor, Department of Family and Social Medicine and chief, Division of Community Health

Rebecca Madan, M.D., M.S.

Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics

Dr. Madan is part of a multidisciplinary translational research team investigating the role of genital mucosal immunity and the development of drug therapies to prevent HIV. Dr. Madan’s research is shedding light on how secretions of the female genital tract protect against HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in adolescent women.

Shadi Nahvi, M.D., M.S.

Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine and of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Dr. Nahvi’s research and educational interests are in health disparities, substance abuse and tobacco control. She also has participated in studies demonstrating the successful treatment of chronic hepatitis C with pegylated interferon in combination with ribavirin in a methadone maintenance treatment program.

Mentor: Julia Arnsten, MD, MPH, professor in the Departments of Medicine, of Epidemiology & Population health and of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science and chief, Division of General Internal Medicine.

Mooyeon Oh-Park, M.D., M.S.

Associate Professor, Clinical Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Dr. Oh-Park has been working to reduce and prevent disability in high-risk populations. Her research focuses on the fear of falling and its impact on disability among the elderly.

Deepa Rastogi, M.D., M.S.

Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics (Respiratory Medicine)

Dr. Rastogi, a pediatric pulmonologist, is studying the association between asthma and obesity. In addition to the recent explosion of obesity, millions of children in the United States are affected by asthma. Increased systemic inflammation and/or increased chest and body fat in obesity can cause airway obstruction, the hallmark of asthma.

Susan Rubin, M.D., M.P.H.

Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Family and Social Medicine

After declining steadily from 1991-2005, birth rates for 15-to 19-year-olds have increased in the United States. Dr. Rubin aims to improve the quality of and access to reproductive health care for this age group. She is exploring the use of long-acting, reversible contraceptives to prevent teen pregnancies.

Mentor: Karen Bonuck, PhD, associate professor, Department of Family and Social Medicine and of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Women’s Health

Amy E. Sanders, M.D., M.S.

Assistant Professor, Saul R. Korey Department of Neurology

Along with her mentor, Richard B. Lipton, M.D., and other Einstein collaborators, Dr. Sanders has published a major paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association on the association of CETP (a genetic variant in a cholesterol gene) with memory decline and Alzheimer’s disease. Their study suggests that drugs now under development, which mimic the CETP variant gene’s effect, could help protect against Alzheimer’s disease.

William Southern, M.D., M.S.

Associate Professor, Clinical Medicine

Dr. Southern is the physician leader of the newly formed Teaching Hospitalist Program at Einstein. His research concern how in-hospital treatment outcomes can be improved, and medical errors reduced. He recently coauthored an important paper with his mentor, Julia Arnsten, M.D., M.P.H., concerning the effect of erroneous computer interpretation of electrocardiograms on decision making by medical residents.

Joshua Steinerman, M.D.

Assistant Professor, Saul R. Korey Department of Neurology

Dr. Steinerman studies brain aging and cognition. Although Alzheimer’s disease is not a normal part of aging, yet about 5 percent of 65- to 74-year-olds, and nearly 50 percent of people age 85 and older may have the disease. Dr. Steinerman is investigating ways to promote healthy brain aging and the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease.

Mentor: Richard Lipton, MD, professor, Saul R. Korey Department of Neurology and the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and of Epidemiology & Population Health.

Tao Wang, M.D., Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology & Population Health

Dr. Wang is working to develop innovative new methods for analyzing genetic abnormalities that lead to cancer. In applying his methods to endometrial cancer with data from the Women’s Health Initiative, a long-term national study for which Einstein is a study site, he has found that certain genes are significantly associated with susceptibility to endometrial cancer by taking into account their interactions with obesity.

The Harold and Muriel Block Institute for Clinical and Translational Research at Einstein and Montefiore, home of the Men’s Division Research Scholars Program, also hosts a unique program to advance the careers of Einstein investigators working mostly in the laboratory. Two “research scholars” were selected last year for this distinction:

Mahalia Desruisseaux, M.D.

As a member of an outstanding group at Einstein internationally known for their work in tropical diseases, Dr. Desruisseaux studies the abnormal regulation of the insulin signaling pathway that occurs in cerebral malaria. This is part of a larger theme of her research, which concerns the effects of infections on the brain in the developing world.

Sylvia Suadicani, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Departments of Urology and Neuroscience

The focus of Dr. Suadicani's work involves nerve transmission abnormalities in the bladder in diabetes. She has an independent NIH research grant aimed at this problem. Her network of Einstein co-authors is extensive, reflecting the multidisciplinary nature of her research.